Once again Treasury Secretary Paulson has announced another knuckle-headed scheme that benefits everyone but the responsible trying to keep their homes. The plan will allow for mortgages on home purchases of just 4.5%. The plan, however, is designed to move foreclosures to help predatory lenders holding homes forcefully vacated.
If you were laid off from your job, had your hours / wages / benefits cut or got suckered by “creative financing” buried in ten pages of fine print and can’t make your house payment well then it sucks to be you. You’ll still be made homeless and some vulture will scoop up what was once your home for far, far less than you paid, get basement interest rates, rent it out to someone for a payment twice what your mortgage may have been and make out like a bandit with a federal license to steal. You, however, will pay more for less of a place to live with the renter’s Sword of Damocles dangling over your head balancing food and shelter costs.
Every hair-brained plan coming from the Bush Administration while in its death throws is designed to help those who need help the least while creating a new group of homeless, working poor or unemployed as the vultures feed on the carcasses of American workers and their dreams.
$350B went to the top one percent to “stimulate” the economy through the cruel, vicious joke called trickle down economics. The top 1% hoard our tax money, pay themselves as well as their pals for destroying the economy and continue to party on as Rome burns eagerly awaiting the other $350B promised them. Meanwhile we struggle to survive at the bottom of a vacuum that sucks every cent of wealth to the top.
That total $700B translates into $30,000 for 232-million tax-paying families who, if given the money, would pay their mortgages, debts and consume moving the money upward in an economy that defies the laws of gravity.
So let me pose this simple question under the Bush Economic Plan: What if all of us, who are responsible, working people, were to simply stop making mortgage payments? What recourse would these greedy, wealthy, bottom-feeding scum have? They would have absolutely NONE. How could they possibly foreclose on every home in the nation? They couldn’t collect and they’d be compelled to negotiate or lose everything. And what if we stopped paying our credit cards at predatory interest rates that continue to increase? This, too, would force renegotiation.The only way that we can survive is to force concessions. If every home mortgage were reset to its current deflated market value and the interest reset at 4.5% foreclosures would come to an abrupt halt. If credit cards were locked-in a 9% people could make their payments. Add in $30,000 per tax-paying family and the economy would have the momentum required to start moving and growing again.There’s greed and there’s profit. Greed is what's killing us but profit, fair, reasonable profit, can rescue this nation's economy. We don’t need weapons to effect a revolution – we simply need to refuse to pay usury rates on that which no longer has value thanks to artificial manipulation by those who've been motivated by unbridled greed with a nod, nudge and wink by the Bush Administration and its party.
It’s time for the ultra wealthy at the helms of corporations whom have fed on the average American to lower THEIR expectations as I seriously doubt any CEO will be eating Alpo under a bridge in a winter storm should their business fail. We, however, will continue to fall into destitution, hunger and homelessness if we don't tell them "no damned more" by not giving them another cent of OUR money until they capitulate.
21-50. Out.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Be advised: Falling Prices Raise a New Fear - Deflation
The sky hasn't fallen yet but prices have and rapidly. This is precisely what one could logically expect when you beat down the working consumer with stagnant wages, reduced hours our simply eliminate their jobs. You greatly thin and impoverish their ranks and they lose faith and stop spending which only worsens the situation. Falling prices equate to continuing shrinking wages and more job losses.
While people are losing their jobs and homes the greedy responsible for the economic implosion are getting government handouts and living very, very well as they hoard our tax money instead of lending it, blow it on lavish corporate retreats, pay their pals dividends and give us all the finger with a big grin. Trickle down economics is the cruelest hoax ever perpetrated on the working American.
No more money for these pigs (and that is precisely what they are). It’s time for trickle up economics and not a pathetic, paltry $600 joke stimulus check. This economy will never get any inertia unless the consumer gets a real infusion of cash from the money that they’ve paid in taxes. That $700B give-away would equate to $30,000 for 232-million taxpaying families earning under $150,000 annually - enough to halt foreclosures and get people spending once again. Unfortunately this idea makes sense and doesn’t directly benefit the ubber wealthy alone by bypassing us.
Pump $30,000 in each household, force all lenders to reduce interest to 4% on all mortgages written since 1 Jan 2001 and force credit card companies to drop their interest rates to 8% and this economy will get rolling again.
It's time for the corporate rich to lower THEIR expectations.
21-50. Out.
While people are losing their jobs and homes the greedy responsible for the economic implosion are getting government handouts and living very, very well as they hoard our tax money instead of lending it, blow it on lavish corporate retreats, pay their pals dividends and give us all the finger with a big grin. Trickle down economics is the cruelest hoax ever perpetrated on the working American.
No more money for these pigs (and that is precisely what they are). It’s time for trickle up economics and not a pathetic, paltry $600 joke stimulus check. This economy will never get any inertia unless the consumer gets a real infusion of cash from the money that they’ve paid in taxes. That $700B give-away would equate to $30,000 for 232-million taxpaying families earning under $150,000 annually - enough to halt foreclosures and get people spending once again. Unfortunately this idea makes sense and doesn’t directly benefit the ubber wealthy alone by bypassing us.
Pump $30,000 in each household, force all lenders to reduce interest to 4% on all mortgages written since 1 Jan 2001 and force credit card companies to drop their interest rates to 8% and this economy will get rolling again.
It's time for the corporate rich to lower THEIR expectations.
21-50. Out.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
$700B for Wall Street Raiders and the Shaft for Us
The proposed Wall Street bailout is reverse socialism in the name of capitalism. In this case the government takes from the poor, to wit the average, middle-class taxpayer, to give to wealthy corporations. And make no mistake that they are still wealthy as the CEOs, CFOs, et al aren't going to lose a penny of the fortunes that they'd amassed under the Bush Administration’s blank check now with no questions, oversight nor punitive measures. The reality is that the institutions they've run into the ground are their cash cows and they expect the taxpayer to save them so that they can continue to suckle at the teats. If the institution dies it’s someone else's money that vaporizes - not theirs – as they have their golden parachutes packed before the shareholders receive a cent should anything remain.
These robber-barons at every level knew they were building time bombs to hand off to the unsuspecting. Mortgage brokers at the base pushed through loans that they knew would end up in default but didn't care as they got their fees and commissions in the front. Then the actual mortgage holders bundled good loans around bad and sold them before they could detonate in massive foreclosures. The people that are suffering the most are those who invested for their retirement and are watching their accounts tank. Those people would be the afore-mentioned "middle class" that government is killing off by aiding and abetting business and financial institutions at every level.
The only way a bailout should occur is in the form of loans and if there are caveats attached regardless if they would “discourage” these firms from seeking help as Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke would have us believe. They can either accept the caveats or go under but they should not be allowed to continue to profit through an infusion of tax dollars while taxpayers providing the funding continue to lose their homes and savings to the very ones responsible for this economic implosion.
Without the following there should be no “bailout” loans:
1. Complete, unfettered, non-partisan oversight,
2. A set minimum portion of any future profits goes to a fund to repay the treasury,
3. No employee of the corporation can receive a salary greater than that of the highest paid federal civil servant nor can they receive any bonuses, stock options or any other additional
money over their salaries until the treasury is repaid,
4. Binding arbitration with distressed homeowners to prevent further foreclosures with a ten-percent credit of the value of the loan toward the debt to the government for each successfully re-negotiated mortgage preventing a foreclosure, and,
5. In the event arbitration fails to prevent a foreclosure, the homeowner will be forgiven any debt that may arise from any difference from the amount owed and the sale price of the home and that the forgiveness of any such difference shall not be taxed as income by the IRS.
The Whitehouse plan pitched by Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke is nothing but free money with no strings allowing Wall Street moguls to continue to profit while more Americans continue to become penniless and homeless - period.
Wall Street and their Whitehouse enablers are joined at the wallet and they want to openly raid our wallets again. I'd rather see Wall Street implode from its own, unregulated greed and charge those responsible under the RICO statutes then confiscate all of their personal assets as the illegal gains from a criminal enterprise rather than give them a single penny with no conditions.Yep. That voting Republican thing worked real well, didn't it?
21-50. Out.
These robber-barons at every level knew they were building time bombs to hand off to the unsuspecting. Mortgage brokers at the base pushed through loans that they knew would end up in default but didn't care as they got their fees and commissions in the front. Then the actual mortgage holders bundled good loans around bad and sold them before they could detonate in massive foreclosures. The people that are suffering the most are those who invested for their retirement and are watching their accounts tank. Those people would be the afore-mentioned "middle class" that government is killing off by aiding and abetting business and financial institutions at every level.
The only way a bailout should occur is in the form of loans and if there are caveats attached regardless if they would “discourage” these firms from seeking help as Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke would have us believe. They can either accept the caveats or go under but they should not be allowed to continue to profit through an infusion of tax dollars while taxpayers providing the funding continue to lose their homes and savings to the very ones responsible for this economic implosion.
Without the following there should be no “bailout” loans:
1. Complete, unfettered, non-partisan oversight,
2. A set minimum portion of any future profits goes to a fund to repay the treasury,
3. No employee of the corporation can receive a salary greater than that of the highest paid federal civil servant nor can they receive any bonuses, stock options or any other additional
money over their salaries until the treasury is repaid,
4. Binding arbitration with distressed homeowners to prevent further foreclosures with a ten-percent credit of the value of the loan toward the debt to the government for each successfully re-negotiated mortgage preventing a foreclosure, and,
5. In the event arbitration fails to prevent a foreclosure, the homeowner will be forgiven any debt that may arise from any difference from the amount owed and the sale price of the home and that the forgiveness of any such difference shall not be taxed as income by the IRS.
The Whitehouse plan pitched by Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke is nothing but free money with no strings allowing Wall Street moguls to continue to profit while more Americans continue to become penniless and homeless - period.
Wall Street and their Whitehouse enablers are joined at the wallet and they want to openly raid our wallets again. I'd rather see Wall Street implode from its own, unregulated greed and charge those responsible under the RICO statutes then confiscate all of their personal assets as the illegal gains from a criminal enterprise rather than give them a single penny with no conditions.Yep. That voting Republican thing worked real well, didn't it?
21-50. Out.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
WAPO: Crises Reveal Limits of Bush's Personal Diplomacy on World Stage
Is there any reason to believe that world leaders would perceive McCain any differently than Bush? I can see none in light of the fact that McCain has rubber-stamped Bush policy since day one despite the Bush election machine having unleashed their dogs upon McCain in 2000 in his presidential bid. Clearly it demonstrates McCain’s loyalty to his party but little else.
Bush is a lame duck and the rest of the world's leaders don't give him much thought with the presidential race revealing no clear winner from recent polls. Consequently they believe that McCain has a chance and they may be dealing with the same administration with a new figurehead for another four years.
The international policies of the past are no longer effective. Each and every conflict in the world is different politically, economically, socially and technically than the ones preceding them. These were lessons learned the hard way in 1914, 1950, 1964 and 2001 to show but a few examples. Frankly McCain is not equipped to engage in new thinking to adapt to an ever changing world; the view that you either beat-up or buy-off a bully, as both Bush and McCain believe, simply doesn’t work any longer. In the military public affairs and civil affairs arenas the motto was “winning hearts and minds” which was damned hard to do after destroying very fragile existences with misplaced ordinance and ill-conceived tactics built on bad intelligence.
As the international climate is now Obama made the right choice in Biden as a VP because Biden has the credentials abroad to negate the argument that Obama lacks the experience to act and deliver in a way that clearly demonstrates the courage of our convictions and the ability to use military might as the last resort, as it should be, all else before having failed. Simply Obama knows how to identify and recruit those who have the experience, knowledge, background and conviction to make policy reality.
It’s a new, ever-evolving world that requires fresh ideas, approaches and leadership to adapt and effect positive change. What we’ve been doing for almost these last eight years hasn’t worked abroad (or at home) so how can we reasonably expect different results if we don’t respond differently with new leadership equipped for the century in which we now live?
21-50. Out.
Bush is a lame duck and the rest of the world's leaders don't give him much thought with the presidential race revealing no clear winner from recent polls. Consequently they believe that McCain has a chance and they may be dealing with the same administration with a new figurehead for another four years.
The international policies of the past are no longer effective. Each and every conflict in the world is different politically, economically, socially and technically than the ones preceding them. These were lessons learned the hard way in 1914, 1950, 1964 and 2001 to show but a few examples. Frankly McCain is not equipped to engage in new thinking to adapt to an ever changing world; the view that you either beat-up or buy-off a bully, as both Bush and McCain believe, simply doesn’t work any longer. In the military public affairs and civil affairs arenas the motto was “winning hearts and minds” which was damned hard to do after destroying very fragile existences with misplaced ordinance and ill-conceived tactics built on bad intelligence.
As the international climate is now Obama made the right choice in Biden as a VP because Biden has the credentials abroad to negate the argument that Obama lacks the experience to act and deliver in a way that clearly demonstrates the courage of our convictions and the ability to use military might as the last resort, as it should be, all else before having failed. Simply Obama knows how to identify and recruit those who have the experience, knowledge, background and conviction to make policy reality.
It’s a new, ever-evolving world that requires fresh ideas, approaches and leadership to adapt and effect positive change. What we’ve been doing for almost these last eight years hasn’t worked abroad (or at home) so how can we reasonably expect different results if we don’t respond differently with new leadership equipped for the century in which we now live?
21-50. Out.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Calling all veterans: New evidence is in; watch John McCain closely.
Senator McCain was recently quoted in the Army Times that he would prioritize combat-disabled veterans over all other disabled veterans in the VA system for treatment and compensation. (http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/military_mccain_healthcare_072308/) Making a distinction between service-disabled veterans based on how the disability was incurred simply to deny care and benefits to one group to cut expenditures is repugnant and quite telling. McCain was simply focused on combat-wounded veterans as they are a hot topic and therefore a means to gain sympathy votes from those who are not informed on his record and actual position.
The result of McCain’s plan will be a still woefully under-funded VA while shoving every other veteran out in favor of the combat-disabled to save a buck.
This is nothing new. The Bush Administration proposed creating a two-tiered VA system where, for example, a leg lost to an IED would be worth more than a leg lost in a training accident and then declare, in either case, once the veteran was able to walk with a prosthetic device that they were made whole and benefits would stop although both were still missing a leg. There was also the idea of giving the veteran a lump-sum payment for a service-connected disability before the full extent of it and its life-long implications could be evaluated.
It’s no accident under the Republicans that concurrent receipt for military retirement and disability benefits is structured with phase-ins with the actuaries betting most veterans would be dead before they could ever collect or that the VA has evolved into a system that is the veteran’s adversary rather than advocate as the object is to slash budgets on veterans' backs by directives to misdiagnose and deny disability compensation where-ever possible as evidenced by leaked VA memos.
What is not being covered in the presidential campaign coverage is that Senator McCain, despite coming from a Navy family, being an Annapolis graduate, a career Navy officer and POW, has been no friend of veterans as evidenced by his votes; he has voted against sufficient VA funding at every opportunity, watering-down current benefits, or creating new caveats to obtain them and opposed the 21st Century GI Bill.
Every voter should know and remember this: While countless veterans are on waiting lists for medical care and fighting for compensation years after their service McCain gets the very best of priority care at Bethesda Naval Hospital while collecting his Navy retirement, disability compensation and senate pay.
21-50. Out.
The result of McCain’s plan will be a still woefully under-funded VA while shoving every other veteran out in favor of the combat-disabled to save a buck.
This is nothing new. The Bush Administration proposed creating a two-tiered VA system where, for example, a leg lost to an IED would be worth more than a leg lost in a training accident and then declare, in either case, once the veteran was able to walk with a prosthetic device that they were made whole and benefits would stop although both were still missing a leg. There was also the idea of giving the veteran a lump-sum payment for a service-connected disability before the full extent of it and its life-long implications could be evaluated.
It’s no accident under the Republicans that concurrent receipt for military retirement and disability benefits is structured with phase-ins with the actuaries betting most veterans would be dead before they could ever collect or that the VA has evolved into a system that is the veteran’s adversary rather than advocate as the object is to slash budgets on veterans' backs by directives to misdiagnose and deny disability compensation where-ever possible as evidenced by leaked VA memos.
What is not being covered in the presidential campaign coverage is that Senator McCain, despite coming from a Navy family, being an Annapolis graduate, a career Navy officer and POW, has been no friend of veterans as evidenced by his votes; he has voted against sufficient VA funding at every opportunity, watering-down current benefits, or creating new caveats to obtain them and opposed the 21st Century GI Bill.
Every voter should know and remember this: While countless veterans are on waiting lists for medical care and fighting for compensation years after their service McCain gets the very best of priority care at Bethesda Naval Hospital while collecting his Navy retirement, disability compensation and senate pay.
21-50. Out.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Calling GWB: It IS the Economy, Stupid, Jr.
Deja vous.
Imagine George W. Bush as Calvin Coolidge. Now imagine John McCain as Herbert Hoover. Coolidge put the wheels in motion that brought about The Great Depression. Hoover takes office and the economy hits the fan.
It was the same story then as it is now: A Republican Party that embraced the wealthy and powerful who greased their political wheels in exchange for what little wealth of everyone else their was to be taken. In 1929 as now people who’ve invested for retirement or for their children will loose everything while the corporate barons walk away unscathed and wealthier while none of those responsible for their criminal deeds, to include knowingly trading “bad paper”, predatory business practices, concealing evidence of their criminal enterprises and market manipulation, will answer before any court.
The contempt for the average, working American Joe and Jane exhibited then is evident today in everything this administration and its party do. Stocks tumble, fuel prices soar with no discernable ceiling, corn is diverted for fuel as it is more profitable thus making beef, poultry, cereal, milk and every other food more expensive, more and more are unemployed thanks to globalization for cheap foreign labor, wages are stagnant for what jobs remain, health and other benefits are available for but a few, home foreclosures are epidemic, property values are plummeting, the list is endless. And let’s not forget the homeless the vast majority being veterans.
And let us examine one classic example of early “compassionate conservatism” concerning veterans during The Great Depression of which very few are aware: The Bonus March of 1929 when Hoover turned the Army against homeless, hungry, unemployed WWI veterans peacefully protesting for a benefit they desperately needed then when the Coolidge actuaries were banking they’d all be dead when the benefit was due.
Bush and McCain simply act under the radar to under-fund the VA, direct it to misdiagnose and deny benefits and warehouse the wounded under conditions that no prisoner would be subjected while fighting against better benefits for veterans. In my heart of hearts I believe that if the new generation of veterans the Bush Administration created were to march in protest concerning their treatment and the denial of benefits they would receive the same response of arms.
Bush is holding a bloody knife as he vehemently denies attempting the murder of our economy and way of life as they slowly die before us.
The Bush-McCain timing may be off from that of Coolidge-Hoover but history will indeed repeat itself if McCain takes office. The end is only nigh if we don’t remember history and act not to repeat it.
21-50. Out
Imagine George W. Bush as Calvin Coolidge. Now imagine John McCain as Herbert Hoover. Coolidge put the wheels in motion that brought about The Great Depression. Hoover takes office and the economy hits the fan.
It was the same story then as it is now: A Republican Party that embraced the wealthy and powerful who greased their political wheels in exchange for what little wealth of everyone else their was to be taken. In 1929 as now people who’ve invested for retirement or for their children will loose everything while the corporate barons walk away unscathed and wealthier while none of those responsible for their criminal deeds, to include knowingly trading “bad paper”, predatory business practices, concealing evidence of their criminal enterprises and market manipulation, will answer before any court.
The contempt for the average, working American Joe and Jane exhibited then is evident today in everything this administration and its party do. Stocks tumble, fuel prices soar with no discernable ceiling, corn is diverted for fuel as it is more profitable thus making beef, poultry, cereal, milk and every other food more expensive, more and more are unemployed thanks to globalization for cheap foreign labor, wages are stagnant for what jobs remain, health and other benefits are available for but a few, home foreclosures are epidemic, property values are plummeting, the list is endless. And let’s not forget the homeless the vast majority being veterans.
And let us examine one classic example of early “compassionate conservatism” concerning veterans during The Great Depression of which very few are aware: The Bonus March of 1929 when Hoover turned the Army against homeless, hungry, unemployed WWI veterans peacefully protesting for a benefit they desperately needed then when the Coolidge actuaries were banking they’d all be dead when the benefit was due.
Bush and McCain simply act under the radar to under-fund the VA, direct it to misdiagnose and deny benefits and warehouse the wounded under conditions that no prisoner would be subjected while fighting against better benefits for veterans. In my heart of hearts I believe that if the new generation of veterans the Bush Administration created were to march in protest concerning their treatment and the denial of benefits they would receive the same response of arms.
Bush is holding a bloody knife as he vehemently denies attempting the murder of our economy and way of life as they slowly die before us.
The Bush-McCain timing may be off from that of Coolidge-Hoover but history will indeed repeat itself if McCain takes office. The end is only nigh if we don’t remember history and act not to repeat it.
21-50. Out
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Attention all units: Fuel thefts are rising rapidly
It's happening across the country from big cities to small rural communities and it's growing in scope daily. In the farming parts of the country where there are diesel tanks to fuel equipment in the fields the thieves are steeling hundreds of gallons nightly from single sites. It simply boils down to this:
Invading Iraq created instability in that oil producing region, gave commodities traitors, er, traders, a means to rape the consumer and driven up the cost of everything while destroying our economy in the process. The no-bid oil contracts that the Bush Administration helped to broker though the puppets of the Iraqi Oil Ministry while McCain states that he wants to keep us there for 100-years or longer is proof that big oil is a benefactor of the Republican Party for large contributions and the blood of our service members was for no other reason than to secure and protect oil for market control and limitless profit.
It's no coincidence that oil shot from $36 per barrel prior to the invasion to the $144 of today. The result of unlimited, government-enabled, corporate greed is only more economic suffering for the average, working schmuck by at the hands of big oil and the incentive for thieves that gouging has created to add to that misery.
Bush, his party and their ubber-wealthy enablers are thieving, conniving, calculating, greedy, selfish, short-sighted, trecherous, unpatriotic, cowardly, sub-human scum void of all human decency - period.
21-50. Out.
Invading Iraq created instability in that oil producing region, gave commodities traitors, er, traders, a means to rape the consumer and driven up the cost of everything while destroying our economy in the process. The no-bid oil contracts that the Bush Administration helped to broker though the puppets of the Iraqi Oil Ministry while McCain states that he wants to keep us there for 100-years or longer is proof that big oil is a benefactor of the Republican Party for large contributions and the blood of our service members was for no other reason than to secure and protect oil for market control and limitless profit.
It's no coincidence that oil shot from $36 per barrel prior to the invasion to the $144 of today. The result of unlimited, government-enabled, corporate greed is only more economic suffering for the average, working schmuck by at the hands of big oil and the incentive for thieves that gouging has created to add to that misery.
Bush, his party and their ubber-wealthy enablers are thieving, conniving, calculating, greedy, selfish, short-sighted, trecherous, unpatriotic, cowardly, sub-human scum void of all human decency - period.
21-50. Out.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
"FWD: Hey, Bubba. Read this. Obama is a Mus-o-lim"
Here is the classic example of dirty politics; using the anonymity of the internet “win at any cost groups” post outrageous lies in the Joseph Goebbels tradition that if it’s repeated often enough it will be taken as truth. When a close friend gets it from another close friend who got it from another close friend et al with no-one being able to quote the source it spreads like the flu only with greater intensity because of its deliberate intent by playing on ignorance, fear and peer trust. Republicans are desperate and the evidence is mounting daily.
The Republican lie machine, thankfully, cannot overcome those who think critically and independently, weighing all sources in making their choices as facts cannot be extinguished with propaganda. The numbers of the lock-step, mindless who listen intently to Rush, Sean, Bill, etc for their cues is shifting with the demographic changes influenced by a new generation of thinking veterans.
I’m one of that group on the cusp that skews the demographics. I come from a military family in which we all served and I made a career of the military as did my father. I clearly see through John McCain as do those who recently served and serve now. McCain has proven to be no friend to the military and veterans by voting against increased benefits and funding at every opportunity. Clinging to the party playbook he claims to embrace service but fails to recognize sacrifice with endless war funding yet none for the new generation of service-disabled veterans created in Iraq.
Worse, he stated he would keep us in Iraq for one-hundred years or more shortly before we learned that the big western oil companies were to be granted no bid contracts by the Iraqi Oil Ministry on the heels of a contrived oil shortage from which they, his supporters/contributors, would benefit only further at our continuing expense at the pump and from every article made from petrol-chemicals while food prices rise as crops are diverted to bio-fuels for nothing but increased profit. Simply those serving now and for a generation or more would spill more blood for a war that was for oil, no matter what Bush, Cheney, McCain, Herger and their party claim.
This I find reprehensible from a career Navy officer who was a POW but I suspect that his attitude is the result of wealth (through marriage) and too many years in the senate both of which have disconnected him from his constituents as has his adherence to the party line to maintain a base of support that is not representative of the average American that pays more for everything while seeing their real income decrease daily through corporate greed. This is further evidenced by the “mortgage meltdown” that McCain’s party created by allowing the banking/lending industry to run wild without regulation or simple oversight.
A vote foe McCain is a vote for total ruin – period.
21-50. Out
The Republican lie machine, thankfully, cannot overcome those who think critically and independently, weighing all sources in making their choices as facts cannot be extinguished with propaganda. The numbers of the lock-step, mindless who listen intently to Rush, Sean, Bill, etc for their cues is shifting with the demographic changes influenced by a new generation of thinking veterans.
I’m one of that group on the cusp that skews the demographics. I come from a military family in which we all served and I made a career of the military as did my father. I clearly see through John McCain as do those who recently served and serve now. McCain has proven to be no friend to the military and veterans by voting against increased benefits and funding at every opportunity. Clinging to the party playbook he claims to embrace service but fails to recognize sacrifice with endless war funding yet none for the new generation of service-disabled veterans created in Iraq.
Worse, he stated he would keep us in Iraq for one-hundred years or more shortly before we learned that the big western oil companies were to be granted no bid contracts by the Iraqi Oil Ministry on the heels of a contrived oil shortage from which they, his supporters/contributors, would benefit only further at our continuing expense at the pump and from every article made from petrol-chemicals while food prices rise as crops are diverted to bio-fuels for nothing but increased profit. Simply those serving now and for a generation or more would spill more blood for a war that was for oil, no matter what Bush, Cheney, McCain, Herger and their party claim.
This I find reprehensible from a career Navy officer who was a POW but I suspect that his attitude is the result of wealth (through marriage) and too many years in the senate both of which have disconnected him from his constituents as has his adherence to the party line to maintain a base of support that is not representative of the average American that pays more for everything while seeing their real income decrease daily through corporate greed. This is further evidenced by the “mortgage meltdown” that McCain’s party created by allowing the banking/lending industry to run wild without regulation or simple oversight.
A vote foe McCain is a vote for total ruin – period.
21-50. Out
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Slam as you will...
… the fact remains that under eight-years of the GWB Administration with its excessive veto powers gained under a previously Republican controlled Congress and its slant toward profit over people everything has gone to hell in a hand basket.
The military in which I served for twenty-two years, as my father for twenty-seven, has been stretched, stripped, demoralized and filled with all BUT the best and brightest to meet recruiting goals while the broken veterans it has created from the “Iraqi Expedition” have been ignored and cast aside as a financial burden in the name of “fiscal conservatism”. There is no limit to war funding but a bottom to be found for those who’ve served – right, Wally Herger?
Here we are in the most oil rich region in the world with promises of discounted oil in exchange for liberation yet fuel prices have gone through the ceiling with no end in sight and NO discounted oil. Every product delivered that we consume daily increases in price daily due to the rising cost of fuel only furthering to hurt the average working American. Meanwhile $170M in domestic fuel is, bluntly, pissed away in the “sand boxes” to our detriment at home compounding the problem further. Futures traders buy and horde oil / fuel to obscenely increase profits by creating a greater shortage than the “war on terror” has as they create a self-fulfilling prophesy of prediction of price to demand for which they are responsible. Diesel, which costs less than gas before the war and fuels tactical vehicles now costs far more than gas and our economy suffers because diesel fuels both the rail and trucking industries that deliver the goods we need.
Corn, a staple for both people and livestock, has become more valuable for bio-fuels than food and the “agri-industry” has diverted it for greater profit. This has only added to the cost of our groceries further hurting us. No doubt Archer-Daniels-Midland, a Texas agri-company, has their hands soiled as does the oil industry in a secret quid pro quo with this administration.
The banking / mortgage industries were allowed to run wild with “creative financial products” so that they could sell bundled, bad paper to investors, many vested retirees, so that they could get their money in the front and leave grandma and grandpa holding the bag and eating Alpo in the dark having to forgo their medications and energy to simply live. Meanwhile our homes are worth less than we paid thanks to a house of cards under a fan of manipulation.
“Free trade” has created a new class of working poor as living-wage paying jobs are eliminated for cheap foreign labor and large corporations are rewarded for destroying the middle-class with tax breaks for moving to foreign shores. Further foreign companies are buying our infrastructure one brick at a time under “privatization” while providing less service for more income.
The list of destruction to our country, our economy and our people under GWB, his cronies and the “new” Republican Party is endless. No doubt Barry Goldwater is rolling in his grave at what has been done to his party, its values, its goals and its ideals. A “true” Republican would have fought the selling out of our nation with everything he or she could muster. “New Republicans” now ask, “What’s in it for ME”?
I’ve respected the Republican Party of the past, although I’m a life-long Democrat, but my disgust for Republicans now has no bounds as they have blindly followed a self-serving president and his cabal of profiteers as they turned a blind eye and deaf ear in unfounded belief to a party in which they trusted that excludes all but the richest few at the expense of everyone else.
Unless you can discreetly hand-off a check to a Republican candidate at a $25K per plate fundraising event you’re just another fool believing that you will share in a system that makes the disgustingly wealthy only wealthier at your expense - PERIOD.
21-50. Out.
The military in which I served for twenty-two years, as my father for twenty-seven, has been stretched, stripped, demoralized and filled with all BUT the best and brightest to meet recruiting goals while the broken veterans it has created from the “Iraqi Expedition” have been ignored and cast aside as a financial burden in the name of “fiscal conservatism”. There is no limit to war funding but a bottom to be found for those who’ve served – right, Wally Herger?
Here we are in the most oil rich region in the world with promises of discounted oil in exchange for liberation yet fuel prices have gone through the ceiling with no end in sight and NO discounted oil. Every product delivered that we consume daily increases in price daily due to the rising cost of fuel only furthering to hurt the average working American. Meanwhile $170M in domestic fuel is, bluntly, pissed away in the “sand boxes” to our detriment at home compounding the problem further. Futures traders buy and horde oil / fuel to obscenely increase profits by creating a greater shortage than the “war on terror” has as they create a self-fulfilling prophesy of prediction of price to demand for which they are responsible. Diesel, which costs less than gas before the war and fuels tactical vehicles now costs far more than gas and our economy suffers because diesel fuels both the rail and trucking industries that deliver the goods we need.
Corn, a staple for both people and livestock, has become more valuable for bio-fuels than food and the “agri-industry” has diverted it for greater profit. This has only added to the cost of our groceries further hurting us. No doubt Archer-Daniels-Midland, a Texas agri-company, has their hands soiled as does the oil industry in a secret quid pro quo with this administration.
The banking / mortgage industries were allowed to run wild with “creative financial products” so that they could sell bundled, bad paper to investors, many vested retirees, so that they could get their money in the front and leave grandma and grandpa holding the bag and eating Alpo in the dark having to forgo their medications and energy to simply live. Meanwhile our homes are worth less than we paid thanks to a house of cards under a fan of manipulation.
“Free trade” has created a new class of working poor as living-wage paying jobs are eliminated for cheap foreign labor and large corporations are rewarded for destroying the middle-class with tax breaks for moving to foreign shores. Further foreign companies are buying our infrastructure one brick at a time under “privatization” while providing less service for more income.
The list of destruction to our country, our economy and our people under GWB, his cronies and the “new” Republican Party is endless. No doubt Barry Goldwater is rolling in his grave at what has been done to his party, its values, its goals and its ideals. A “true” Republican would have fought the selling out of our nation with everything he or she could muster. “New Republicans” now ask, “What’s in it for ME”?
I’ve respected the Republican Party of the past, although I’m a life-long Democrat, but my disgust for Republicans now has no bounds as they have blindly followed a self-serving president and his cabal of profiteers as they turned a blind eye and deaf ear in unfounded belief to a party in which they trusted that excludes all but the richest few at the expense of everyone else.
Unless you can discreetly hand-off a check to a Republican candidate at a $25K per plate fundraising event you’re just another fool believing that you will share in a system that makes the disgustingly wealthy only wealthier at your expense - PERIOD.
21-50. Out.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Republicans Set to Veto GI Bill
21-50 to all units!
The fact that Wally Herger is against the 21st. Century GI Bill, as is the president and their party, is but more proof of what a two-faced chicken hawk he and his have repeatedly proven themselves to be by both their actions and inactions. GWB, Wally Herger and the Republican Party are all cut from the same cloth of hypocrisy.
All of the Republican Party and its mindless lockstep minions proclaim to be both pro-military and pro-veteran when in fact they support the prior but not the latter. A strong military can carry out their will under the guise of the national security hence the unlimited stream of funding for the military (excluding proper and effective armor and personal protective equipment) to serve the administration’s goals. However veterans, particularly disabled ones, have neither value nor purpose and are viewed no differently than the empty brass casings of expended munitions – mere remnants having served their purpose to now be swept away or be left behind as nothing more than litter. Consequently countless veterans are homeless and unemployed because sufficiently funding their needs doesn’t serve the agenda of the administration or its party. On my latter point this is where being “fiscally conservative” is exercised while the countless tax dollars pissed away for no justifiable reason in Iraq is excused behind a façade of “national security”.
Therefore it’s easy for service-evading cowards, such as Wally Herger, to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to veterans and, in particular, those who are service-disabled. My contempt for Wally Herger and his ilk is boundless.
Jim Webb, a Naval Academy graduate and combat Marine, served with honor and distinction. He authored the 21st Century GI Bill that GWB, Herger and the Republican Party are attempting to quash. What can GWB, Wally Herger, Dick Cheney and the vast majority of the Republican Party say of their service?
Sadly, John McCain, the Republican heir apparent, a Navy captain, aviator and POW who endured years of torture at the “Hanoi Hilton”, having been captured, has abandoned those with whom he served and those following him in service by opposing the 21st Century GI Bill, selling out to his party over those who wear or have worn the uniform of their respective branches.
This is why more and more veterans, Active Duty, Reservists, Guard Members, their survivors and dependant ants are turning their backs on the Republican Party as it has been Democrats who have stood by and supported them.
21-50 out.
The fact that Wally Herger is against the 21st. Century GI Bill, as is the president and their party, is but more proof of what a two-faced chicken hawk he and his have repeatedly proven themselves to be by both their actions and inactions. GWB, Wally Herger and the Republican Party are all cut from the same cloth of hypocrisy.
All of the Republican Party and its mindless lockstep minions proclaim to be both pro-military and pro-veteran when in fact they support the prior but not the latter. A strong military can carry out their will under the guise of the national security hence the unlimited stream of funding for the military (excluding proper and effective armor and personal protective equipment) to serve the administration’s goals. However veterans, particularly disabled ones, have neither value nor purpose and are viewed no differently than the empty brass casings of expended munitions – mere remnants having served their purpose to now be swept away or be left behind as nothing more than litter. Consequently countless veterans are homeless and unemployed because sufficiently funding their needs doesn’t serve the agenda of the administration or its party. On my latter point this is where being “fiscally conservative” is exercised while the countless tax dollars pissed away for no justifiable reason in Iraq is excused behind a façade of “national security”.
Therefore it’s easy for service-evading cowards, such as Wally Herger, to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to veterans and, in particular, those who are service-disabled. My contempt for Wally Herger and his ilk is boundless.
Jim Webb, a Naval Academy graduate and combat Marine, served with honor and distinction. He authored the 21st Century GI Bill that GWB, Herger and the Republican Party are attempting to quash. What can GWB, Wally Herger, Dick Cheney and the vast majority of the Republican Party say of their service?
Sadly, John McCain, the Republican heir apparent, a Navy captain, aviator and POW who endured years of torture at the “Hanoi Hilton”, having been captured, has abandoned those with whom he served and those following him in service by opposing the 21st Century GI Bill, selling out to his party over those who wear or have worn the uniform of their respective branches.
This is why more and more veterans, Active Duty, Reservists, Guard Members, their survivors and dependant ants are turning their backs on the Republican Party as it has been Democrats who have stood by and supported them.
21-50 out.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Calling the Chicken Hawk Coward Wally Herger
I call them as I see them. Further I will continue to publicly denounce Wally Herger for the worthless chicken hawk and coward that he is. I served twenty-two years, am service-disabled and come from a military family - something which Wally Herger cannot proudly proclaim having evaded service as have his offspring.
A chicken hawk is one that supports a war providing he and his are not required to fight that war and, better still, a war from which he and his cronies can profit. During the draft Wally Herger hid in a community college and then got into a BA program from which he promptly dropped when the draft was abolished. Hence Herger is a coward for not serving and a chicken hawk by supporting a war in which he and his will not serve nor endure any loss but, rather, only profit.
Therefore it’s incredibly easy for someone like Wally Herger to publicly proclaim his patriotism and support of those who do serve and have served to only go back to DC to erode and eliminate what benefits there are for those who, by oath, carry out the mission they are given regardless of whose interest that mission may serve. The members of the military have political and financial value until they become veterans, particularly disabled veterans, whereupon they become a burden of which to be disposed promises damned.
Wally Herger is not only a coward and chicken hawk but he is a ne’er-do-well having run from an unfinished education into mommy and daddy’s business because he can do nothing on his own. A ne’er-do-well which, according to Webster means, “an idle, worthless person; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit; good-for-nothing”. There is no better description for Wally Herger. Considering that Herger got into office on family money and remained there by pandering to fear and ignorance while doing nothing to better the lives of his constituents as he dangled from his masters’ strings is evidence that he is worthless. He gladly takes his salary from the public yet refuses to serve the interests those whose taxes from which that salary comes.
Wally Herger is, simply, worthless as he serves only himself and special interests while completely oblivious to his district’s needs.
If the California legislature had not made challenging another to defend his honor unlawful in 1872 I doubt Wally Herger would be in office today. Then again, coward as he has proven himself to be, he would no doubt have a second stand in his place had the law not been chaptered.
21-50. Out.
A chicken hawk is one that supports a war providing he and his are not required to fight that war and, better still, a war from which he and his cronies can profit. During the draft Wally Herger hid in a community college and then got into a BA program from which he promptly dropped when the draft was abolished. Hence Herger is a coward for not serving and a chicken hawk by supporting a war in which he and his will not serve nor endure any loss but, rather, only profit.
Therefore it’s incredibly easy for someone like Wally Herger to publicly proclaim his patriotism and support of those who do serve and have served to only go back to DC to erode and eliminate what benefits there are for those who, by oath, carry out the mission they are given regardless of whose interest that mission may serve. The members of the military have political and financial value until they become veterans, particularly disabled veterans, whereupon they become a burden of which to be disposed promises damned.
Wally Herger is not only a coward and chicken hawk but he is a ne’er-do-well having run from an unfinished education into mommy and daddy’s business because he can do nothing on his own. A ne’er-do-well which, according to Webster means, “an idle, worthless person; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit; good-for-nothing”. There is no better description for Wally Herger. Considering that Herger got into office on family money and remained there by pandering to fear and ignorance while doing nothing to better the lives of his constituents as he dangled from his masters’ strings is evidence that he is worthless. He gladly takes his salary from the public yet refuses to serve the interests those whose taxes from which that salary comes.
Wally Herger is, simply, worthless as he serves only himself and special interests while completely oblivious to his district’s needs.
If the California legislature had not made challenging another to defend his honor unlawful in 1872 I doubt Wally Herger would be in office today. Then again, coward as he has proven himself to be, he would no doubt have a second stand in his place had the law not been chaptered.
21-50. Out.
Friday, April 04, 2008
21-50 to all units: Fuel prices
There’s no free pass for the oil industry, the Bush Administration or the Republican Party concerning fuel prices. To those who think ever-increasing fuel prices and the economic fallout aren’t the result of W’s Iraqi debacle, consider this:
Military vehicles and armor operate on diesel. They weren’t designed for mileage and there are thousands of them deployed in Iraq operating 24/7/365. The military relies on “organic” supplies meaning that which they bring into the theater and not what’s available in the theater as it can be disrupted or denied by an enemy. Consequently diesel is shipped over to the theater from the US. Diesel, which was less expensive than gas before the war cost more than gas five years into the war due to a shortage created by the idiot-in-chief. Trains and trucks deliver the goods we need daily and increased diesel prices raise the cost of everything.
All military aircraft run on jet-a, a kerosene based fuel. They too suck fuel measured in hundreds of pounds per hour and are constantly flying sorties in theater. Less fuel is now available for commercial aviation which also delivers goods and packages as well as passengers thus also raising prices.
Instability in an oil producing region gives speculating scum (the kindest word I can muster) an excuse to raise oil prices. It was Bush that created that instability by invading Iraq and his oil industry pals are rolling in our money from obscene profiteering. The result is that those fortunate enough to have a job in this crumbling economy can’t afford to commute to work without cutting back in their budgets where-ever possible. Thus money that would benefit other parts of the economy (retailers, restaurants, theaters, etc) is redirected to the pockets of big oil as a benefit for gouging consumers. That money redirected to pay ever increasing fuel prices is why 98,000 more people are unemployed because discretionary spending has all but vaporized.
Someone posted here that we should nationalize oil and I wholeheartedly agree. Big oil is but another example of what happens when big business is allowed to run wild while enabled by an administration and party that it supports through campaign funding with a nod, a nudge and a wink. If this quid pro quo isn’t stopped we will be another third world toilet of a few haves and countless have nots.
Military vehicles and armor operate on diesel. They weren’t designed for mileage and there are thousands of them deployed in Iraq operating 24/7/365. The military relies on “organic” supplies meaning that which they bring into the theater and not what’s available in the theater as it can be disrupted or denied by an enemy. Consequently diesel is shipped over to the theater from the US. Diesel, which was less expensive than gas before the war cost more than gas five years into the war due to a shortage created by the idiot-in-chief. Trains and trucks deliver the goods we need daily and increased diesel prices raise the cost of everything.
All military aircraft run on jet-a, a kerosene based fuel. They too suck fuel measured in hundreds of pounds per hour and are constantly flying sorties in theater. Less fuel is now available for commercial aviation which also delivers goods and packages as well as passengers thus also raising prices.
Instability in an oil producing region gives speculating scum (the kindest word I can muster) an excuse to raise oil prices. It was Bush that created that instability by invading Iraq and his oil industry pals are rolling in our money from obscene profiteering. The result is that those fortunate enough to have a job in this crumbling economy can’t afford to commute to work without cutting back in their budgets where-ever possible. Thus money that would benefit other parts of the economy (retailers, restaurants, theaters, etc) is redirected to the pockets of big oil as a benefit for gouging consumers. That money redirected to pay ever increasing fuel prices is why 98,000 more people are unemployed because discretionary spending has all but vaporized.
Someone posted here that we should nationalize oil and I wholeheartedly agree. Big oil is but another example of what happens when big business is allowed to run wild while enabled by an administration and party that it supports through campaign funding with a nod, a nudge and a wink. If this quid pro quo isn’t stopped we will be another third world toilet of a few haves and countless have nots.
Friday, February 08, 2008
21-50 to all voters: About Voting Republican
John McCain said, "Americans don't hate the rich. They want to be like them". That's how the Republicans operate - by telling the average working chump that if they support Republican policy they too will enjoy great prosperity.
Oh, yeah. That voting Republican thing really worked well, didn't it? Their promise of "you can share in the wealth" with the caveat of "just vote for us and do what we say without question" paid off - for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. The poor working chump fell for the lie more than once and got the shaft as usual.
Wealthy people don't want to share; it's against their nature. Rather they live to gain as much wealth as possible and they really don't care if someone's “grandmother freezes in the dark” (to quote an Enron minion) if they can find a way to take her last cent to throw on their huge pile. Corporations don't care about their worker drones. All they care about is profit at anyone's expense below the standard top three at their helms. Corporations get “attractively profitable" to investors by finding ways to squeeze every cent out of workers. No more living wages, medical insurance, pensions nor anything else that workers once enjoyed. Those who complain can watch as their job is outsourced to some third-world toilet and the company for which they once worked is rewarded for it with a tax break. And, should a CEO run a company into the ground, they are rewarded for it with millions of dollars over and above their salaries of countless millions when they leave.
The only welfare programs that this administration and the Republican Party support are the ones for the wealthy and corporations. If that weren't the case, they wouldn't allow them to run wild for more riches with their "creative" mortgage products that preyed on the American Dream while creating a new generation of homeless or selling out the American worker to cheap labor illegally pouring over the border to which they give a nod, nudge and wink or shipping living-wage jobs overseas to the detriment of the American worker for greater profit and then rewarding such treason with tax incentives.
And let's not forget that little foray into Iraq with no justification under the orders of the draft- evading, drill-missing, idiot-in-chief. All that that has done is make the Blackwaters, Halliburton’s and other countless corporations that are buddy-buddy with the administration richer as it siphons trillions of dollars from programs to help those most in need at home while allowing our infrastructure to crumble and creating a deficit of unimaginable proportions that our kids will have to pay off.
Also keep in mind that the 4,000 American lives lost in, and the new generation of disabled veterans coming home from, “The War on Terror”, from which there was none until we invaded Iraq, are the children of what's left of middle and working class Americans. Of course this little "expedition" paid off without a draft; when the economy is on the skids who needs a draft when the employment picture is so bleak that military service seems the only viable option, especially with fat bonuses for signing up for direct combat specialties? To further bring up the numbers of the ranks of the military to do the bidding of the top 5% with all of the wealth is to destroy the economy for the other 95%, raise the enlistment age, reduce the educational requirements to the third-grade level and open the door for felons and illegal aliens. This assures that only the children of the bottom 95% will do the bidding of the wealthy, connected power-elite so that they or their prodigy will never shed a tear nor a drop of blood.
There's lots of money for Bush’s war but next to nothing for the broken veterans it created. Does anyone remember the shame of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal or the other cold, heartless examples such as abandoned, homeless veterans living under bridges thanks to Republican "compassionate conservatism"?
Every day the ranks of the American “have- nots” grow thanks to this administration and its enablers. Those ranks are turning into an angry mob that will get its revenge come the November elections.
Note to Wally Herger (another draft-evading, chicken hawk, Republican COWARD who sends everyone else's kids to war as his stay behind while he wraps himself in a flag, clutches his Bible and holds his plastic sword on high as he votes against the veterans whom he USED for photo-ops): "Count this angry, service-disabled veteran of twenty-two years from a family with service dating back 100-years (unlike yours) among the vengeful in YOUR district whom are building the machine to remove you and your ilk from office".
Remember, Wally, as a REAL patriot, Samuel Jackson said,"PATRIOTISM IS THE LAST REFUGE OF A SCOUNDRAL".
Oh, yeah. That voting Republican thing really worked well, didn't it? Their promise of "you can share in the wealth" with the caveat of "just vote for us and do what we say without question" paid off - for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. The poor working chump fell for the lie more than once and got the shaft as usual.
Wealthy people don't want to share; it's against their nature. Rather they live to gain as much wealth as possible and they really don't care if someone's “grandmother freezes in the dark” (to quote an Enron minion) if they can find a way to take her last cent to throw on their huge pile. Corporations don't care about their worker drones. All they care about is profit at anyone's expense below the standard top three at their helms. Corporations get “attractively profitable" to investors by finding ways to squeeze every cent out of workers. No more living wages, medical insurance, pensions nor anything else that workers once enjoyed. Those who complain can watch as their job is outsourced to some third-world toilet and the company for which they once worked is rewarded for it with a tax break. And, should a CEO run a company into the ground, they are rewarded for it with millions of dollars over and above their salaries of countless millions when they leave.
The only welfare programs that this administration and the Republican Party support are the ones for the wealthy and corporations. If that weren't the case, they wouldn't allow them to run wild for more riches with their "creative" mortgage products that preyed on the American Dream while creating a new generation of homeless or selling out the American worker to cheap labor illegally pouring over the border to which they give a nod, nudge and wink or shipping living-wage jobs overseas to the detriment of the American worker for greater profit and then rewarding such treason with tax incentives.
And let's not forget that little foray into Iraq with no justification under the orders of the draft- evading, drill-missing, idiot-in-chief. All that that has done is make the Blackwaters, Halliburton’s and other countless corporations that are buddy-buddy with the administration richer as it siphons trillions of dollars from programs to help those most in need at home while allowing our infrastructure to crumble and creating a deficit of unimaginable proportions that our kids will have to pay off.
Also keep in mind that the 4,000 American lives lost in, and the new generation of disabled veterans coming home from, “The War on Terror”, from which there was none until we invaded Iraq, are the children of what's left of middle and working class Americans. Of course this little "expedition" paid off without a draft; when the economy is on the skids who needs a draft when the employment picture is so bleak that military service seems the only viable option, especially with fat bonuses for signing up for direct combat specialties? To further bring up the numbers of the ranks of the military to do the bidding of the top 5% with all of the wealth is to destroy the economy for the other 95%, raise the enlistment age, reduce the educational requirements to the third-grade level and open the door for felons and illegal aliens. This assures that only the children of the bottom 95% will do the bidding of the wealthy, connected power-elite so that they or their prodigy will never shed a tear nor a drop of blood.
There's lots of money for Bush’s war but next to nothing for the broken veterans it created. Does anyone remember the shame of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal or the other cold, heartless examples such as abandoned, homeless veterans living under bridges thanks to Republican "compassionate conservatism"?
Every day the ranks of the American “have- nots” grow thanks to this administration and its enablers. Those ranks are turning into an angry mob that will get its revenge come the November elections.
Note to Wally Herger (another draft-evading, chicken hawk, Republican COWARD who sends everyone else's kids to war as his stay behind while he wraps himself in a flag, clutches his Bible and holds his plastic sword on high as he votes against the veterans whom he USED for photo-ops): "Count this angry, service-disabled veteran of twenty-two years from a family with service dating back 100-years (unlike yours) among the vengeful in YOUR district whom are building the machine to remove you and your ilk from office".
Remember, Wally, as a REAL patriot, Samuel Jackson said,"PATRIOTISM IS THE LAST REFUGE OF A SCOUNDRAL".
Monday, January 21, 2008
WARNING: From Servicemember to Veteran to American Worker, You're "Expendable"
The Washington Post of today printed an article about the highly skilled unemployed that are under-reported if not ignored in the news. After twenty-two years of military service, two degrees, numerous schools and courses as well as a wealth of experience easily translated to the private sector I became self-employed for many of the reasons I’d read in the story and in comments posted to it about not only the dearth of decent, living-wage paying jobs but the mentality of the American employer toward the American worker; once they make a decent wage, attain a certain age or they or an immediate family member have a change in health they become a disposable commodity easily replaced by a younger one, citizen or not, for far less money. Starting with the Reagan Administration the lid was taken off of corporate greed and American employers at all levels were aided and enabled in the slow, painful extinction of the American middleclass worker.
Because of my experiences after the military as a service-disabled veteran I became actively involved in organizations and programs for veterans to assist them in becoming self-sufficient entrepreneurs because the way that this country, its institutions and employers treat them is even more disturbing and reprehensible than how the average American worker is treated. For veterans, particularly service disabled veterans, finding meaningful employment that pays a living wage is far more difficult than for the average worker. Older veterans endure the same prejudices as their younger counterparts plus age discrimination. They all were expendable in the field and now can’t comprehend why they’re now viewed as expendable at home as well. One veteran who had survived an IED in Iraq confided that he wished it had killed him if he’d known how he’d be treated at home.
Given the fact that this country views its workers as disposable razors, cheap and easily replaced, it’s no wonder that its veterans are viewed as already having been disposed of by their government and worth even far less. It’s an attitude beyond contempt and revulsion and it mocks Lincoln’s words at his second inaugural address that this nation”…care for him who shall have borne the battle and his widow and orphan”.
Remember all of this when it comes time to bring a new administration to the Whitehouse and change to congress in November. Study their voting records on bills to support the American worker, the military and veterans (votesmart.org is a good source). See if they’ve introduced bills to protect the average American and not corporations here and abroad. Investigate who funds their campaigns. Both miscreants and saints leave trails of evidence of whom they really are and it’s incumbent upon us to see through their rhetoric and find the real person before casting a vote.
The answer is simple: those who sell us out will be thrown.
21-50 out.
Because of my experiences after the military as a service-disabled veteran I became actively involved in organizations and programs for veterans to assist them in becoming self-sufficient entrepreneurs because the way that this country, its institutions and employers treat them is even more disturbing and reprehensible than how the average American worker is treated. For veterans, particularly service disabled veterans, finding meaningful employment that pays a living wage is far more difficult than for the average worker. Older veterans endure the same prejudices as their younger counterparts plus age discrimination. They all were expendable in the field and now can’t comprehend why they’re now viewed as expendable at home as well. One veteran who had survived an IED in Iraq confided that he wished it had killed him if he’d known how he’d be treated at home.
Given the fact that this country views its workers as disposable razors, cheap and easily replaced, it’s no wonder that its veterans are viewed as already having been disposed of by their government and worth even far less. It’s an attitude beyond contempt and revulsion and it mocks Lincoln’s words at his second inaugural address that this nation”…care for him who shall have borne the battle and his widow and orphan”.
Remember all of this when it comes time to bring a new administration to the Whitehouse and change to congress in November. Study their voting records on bills to support the American worker, the military and veterans (votesmart.org is a good source). See if they’ve introduced bills to protect the average American and not corporations here and abroad. Investigate who funds their campaigns. Both miscreants and saints leave trails of evidence of whom they really are and it’s incumbent upon us to see through their rhetoric and find the real person before casting a vote.
The answer is simple: those who sell us out will be thrown.
21-50 out.
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